“Lost” recap: Will the real Sayid please stand up?

Last night’s “Lost” episode was Kate-centric, with its “flash-sideways” pegged to her run from the law (in L.A.) and from the temple people (on the island). But it was the travails of poor Sayid that really caught our attention and pushed the saga in an intriguing direction.

Having just been revived in the temple’s mysterious Jacuzzi, Sayid is tortured by Dogen, the grand poo-bah (Oh, karama is indeed a bitch). Dogen places some cartoonish electrode gizmo on Sayid’s head and thrusts a red-hot poker into his torso as Jack continues to stew outside. But eventually, Dogen explains to Jack that they’re not torturing Sayid, but testing him. (Maybe it’s just a 50,000-mile tune-up).

“We believe he has been claimed,” temple guy says. “A darkness is growing in him.”

And then, the final zinger … “It happened to your sister.” The comment is followed by a quick cut to a raggedy, wild-eyed Claire in the jungle, acting all Rousseau-like and shooting people. It is the first we’ve seen of Claire on the island for over a season.

Dogen’s line about being “claimed” suggests that Sayid’s body has been taken over by someone — or something — else (Jacob? The Man in Black?) and this sort of thing has been happening for ages. Claire seems to be possessd by something or someone and we know dead Locke has been taken over by the Man in Black/Smoke Monster (At least we think we know).

And now a few past incidents may be coming into a deeper focus. Apparently, the temple waters were used to save young Ben after Sayid shot him (Recall at the time, Richard warned the castaways that, while Ben’s life could be saved, he would never be the same).

And we can now reasonably deduct that all those dead characters we’ve seen come to life in the past (like Jack’s deceased father) were actually Ol’ Smokey appearing in the form of the dead characters and trying to influence the castaways’ actions.

But there are still many questions (as always) left to be hashed out. Will the “new” Sayid be good or evil? Dogen’s line about “darkness” suggests evil — but are we to automatically believe that Dogen is a good guy? What exactly are his intentions? And does grown-up Ben have that same darkness in his heart? (Leaving us to assume that Widmore might be the good guy?). In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, “Lost” showrunner Damon Lindelof warned, “Your sense of who’s good and who’s bad might change a bit over the course of the season.”

More mind games? Sounds good to me.

Some quick observations:

– It was interesting to see the vulnerable side of Sawyer. He actually teared up, telling Kate that he was going to ask the dearly departed Juliet to marry him. (Stellar work by Josh Holloway).
– Sad Sawyer line: “Some of us are meant to be alone.” (I can still feel a lump in my throat).
– Funniest line of the night: “You’re not a zombie, right?” (Hurley to the resurrected Sayid).
– Second funniest line: “Ill be in the food court if you need me.” (Miles to the gang in the temple). And doesn’t the temple look like somehting straight out of a theme park — Disneyland’s Indiana Jones ride?
– Ethan’s back! The creepy guy who kidnapped Claire on the island — and took an interest in her baby — returned in the flash-sideways as the man conducting Claire’s ultra-sound. His name? Dr. Goodspeed. (On the island, Charlie killed Ethan).
– Poor Arzt nearly gets run over in L.A. and he blurts out the line from “Midnight Cowboy” — “Hey, I’m walkin’ HERE!”
– Will Claire now raise Aaron in the L.A. timeline? How badly did you want her to slap that mother for not bothering to call Claire after deciding she could not take the baby? (Where is wild island Caire when you need her?)
– Jack, the “man of science,” still can’t bring himself to be a man of faith — refusing to give that weird horse pill to Sayid. And it looks like that was a “good” thing because Dogen claimed the pill was poison.
– Just a quick personal observation: I’ve spent so much time on Oahu, growing up, that when I see the flash-sideways scenes at the airport and in the city streets, I keep thinking we’re in Honolulu and I have to remind myself that, no, we’re in L.A. It’s just a nit-picky thing, but I wonder how hard it would have been for the “Lost” crew to have shot at least a few exteriors at LAX and surrounding environs.

Chuck Barney

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And for me, the personage of Lennon was bugging me until I realized that I’d seen him before in Brisco County, Jr., also by Cuse, and in the episode he was in he translated for a mute named Utah Johnny Montana. I think he’s being typecast now.

And this episode seemed slow to me. Maybe it was too much off island time. But hopefully there’s some foreshadowing with the baseball. Maybe this whole thing is the ultimate World Series. Which is why Jacob wanted Sayid to live, he must have some amazing baseball skillz.

Moke Smonster

Sayid has been used by the Iraqi Revolutionary Guards, the CIA, by Ben, by the castaways to torture Ben and now the Temple People. He should have NEVER killed that chicken as a child.

Joe-Joe

Remember way back when…

That psychic guy told Claire that she needed to raise her baby or bad things would happen?

So when he psychically knew she wouldn’t keep him and he steered her onto that plane that he (guessing) knew would crash on the island.

If he didn’t know about the crash then he at least knew this adopting couple in LA would fall through and Claire would still be keeping him?

Also,

This MIB also took the form of Walt who isn’t dead… how does that fit in?

food for thought.

Moke Smonster

Recall the question The Others asked when they first acquired Walt and Michael: “Does he frequently appear in places he shouldn’t be? Or in two places at once (paraphrasing).” Walt could just be able to do that, and that may not have been Smokie.

Karen N

I agree this show was a bit slow. I sure hope we don’t go back and forth anymore and hope these twists and turns pan out and we are not left with unanswered questions. This needs to be a great final season for what’s been a great show.

I do like seeing that either way, so far, their lives weren’t better off in either place.

Gives us all time to think of our lives and the “grass is always greener” theory.

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